


chlorine sweet (your lips)

by wooyoungthighs



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, Anal Sex, Bang Chan is Whipped, M/M, Mermaid Performer, Merman Minho But Not Really, Minor Lee Felix/Seo Changbin, Model Minho, Pet Names, Power Bottom Lee Minho | Lee Know, Top Bang Chan, minchan rise, no beta we die like women, once again minho is not an actual mermaid, save the oceans please, set in australia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:41:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25291063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wooyoungthighs/pseuds/wooyoungthighs
Summary: Chan didn’t believe in mermaids.He was very well aware of how deep the Pacific ocean was, that it was still very much unexplored and that there were countless creatures hiding in the dark waters yet to be seen by the human eye, so there really was no way to be certain that mermaids or sirens didn’t exist, but still.Chan thought that it was rather unlikely for mermaids to exist.orMinho dresses up as a mermaid for a living; he also saves the oceans and Chan.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Side Changlix - Relationship
Comments: 53
Kudos: 264





	chlorine sweet (your lips)

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm back with another minchan fic! I hope you like this one, it's sort of a wild idea but I think it's pretty fun. I definitely had fun writing it.  
> Also, it's in the tags but everyone is at least 3 years older in this (so their careers actually make sense).
> 
> [Inspiration for this fic comes from this vid.](https://youtu.be/JfUjz00snVE)
> 
> Just to be sure, trigger warnings for this one: there is a scene where a person almost drowns and is given first aid. Also, one brief mention of sexual assault but not at all described, literally only a mention.  
> And lastly, there is a couple of names in this fic that are 100 % made up and don't have any connection to a specific real-world company/person, any resemblance is purely coincidental.

Chan didn’t believe in mermaids.

He was very well aware of how deep the Pacific ocean was, that it was still very much unexplored and that there were countless creatures hiding in the dark waters yet to be seen by the human eye, so there really was no way to be  _ certain _ that mermaids or sirens  _ didn’t exist _ , but still.

Chan thought that it was  _ rather unlikely _ for mermaids to exist.

Biology had never been one of his strong points so his assumption was based solely on the conviction that it just wouldn’t be fair for such beautiful creatures to exist while humans had to suffer from being generally average-looking or just  _ agreeable _ .

So it felt like a groundbreaking discovery when he first laid his eyes on Minho, a human with a fishtail instead of legs. A mermaid. 

_ Merman? Is there a correct nomenclature? _ Chan thought as he looked over Felix’s shoulder to see better.

So maybe he was just a little bit tipsy on champagne and it was actually a normal human being in a costume but for a second he let himself believe that the bright red and gold tail was real and that there was, in fact, an entire species of human-fish hybrids hidden from sight until now, and that he was the explorer of deep seas who made the first discovery, who was the first person in the world to witness the unearthly beauty of the mythical creature with red eye shadow and gold glitter that gently traced the well-defined lines of his torso.

“A  _ mermaid? _ ” Felix voiced Chan’s thoughts when he followed his gaze to the intricate system of water fountains at the forefront of Sydney Harbour Hotel. “I was wondering what they’re gonna come up with this year. I guess it’s a good way to show off the first waterproof camera for deep-diving, huh.”

“They’ll definitely get the press with that,” Chan added as they made their way to the venue. As the head of marketing in JYP Electronics, Chan asked Felix to accompany him to the product launch of YG Film in the luxurious gardens of Sydney Harbour Hotel. Although it was their competitor’s event, Chan’s boss insisted on accepting their invitation as a networking opportunity. Chan fixed his tie as they walked around slowly, taking in their surroundings.

“Don’t get me wrong, it looks impressive, but I can’t imagine confining myself voluntarily like that,” Felix said and Chan was starting to make out the face features as they slowly approached the main floor of the event, a broad stretch of pavement in front of the hotel decorated with patches of trimmed grass, fake lakes with koi fish and elevated platforms with fountains and waterfalls. 

The  _ mermaid show _ , as Chan named it in his head, was happening on one of the fountains. The man in the costume was perched on the concrete brim of the little pool, laid out with his tail on the length of the wall, the fin wavering in the air as he supported himself on a single muscular arm, the other resting on where the fishtail ended. There was a crowd of photographers surrounding him, asking for pictures with the CEO holding the new camera right next to the smiling face of the man in the mermaid costume and Chan couldn’t help but wonder if the smile was genuine or just another part of the intricate costume.

“Wanna go say hi?” Felix teased him when he barely took his eyes off the brown-haired man to take another glass of complimentary champagne.

“Shut up,” Chan laughed and tore his eyes away from the scene. 

They walked around for a bit before locating some of their business partners and hitting off a fairly successful conversation about the recent stock market trends and Chan actually felt kind of proud of himself for not looking in the direction of the fountain the entire time. It was important for him to pay attention and Chan was very well aware that one successful small talk could win them an investor that would change everything for their company, so this really wasn’t the time to play.

So they continued doing their rounds around the place and Chan felt like a comet orbiting the Sun, at one moment getting close enough to burn himself and then running away in the blink of an eye, so far away that he felt his heart frost back over. But maybe that was just the ice cubes in the whiskey chilling his fingertips through the thick glass.

The sun was slowly starting to set on the scorching hot asphalt and with it, Chan grew more and more tired. It was just him and Felix now, both of them wanting a little bit of a break from all the socializing and networking. They were leaning against a huge concrete plant pot with a tree in the middle of it, neither of them feeling the need to talk. Felix was checking his social media, eyes glued to the phone so Chan could stare at the man in the mermaid costume without being confronted about it. But it was really too good to be true because soon enough, Felix ran out of interesting social media content and pocketed his phone.

“Mate, you’ve been staring at him this entire time, just go talk to him,” he laughed and Chan quickly looked away. The pavement between his feet was also pretty interesting.

“No, I don’t wanna be a creep,” he shrugged it off with a sneer.

“So you do admit you’ve been staring at him?” Felix snickered and Chan couldn’t come up with an answer, so Felix continued. “Like, I totally get you. I’m not gonna tell HR if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“It’s stupid,” Chan wished that Felix would drop the topic but unfortunately Felix wasn’t one of the coworkers that talked to Chan just because they worked in the same department.

“Chris, you  _ are _ allowed to like people,” he said and Chan could feel his eyes on him. He had no problem helping others with their issues, but when it came to his own life, he wasn’t very well used to being confronted about it. “You can just come up and ask about, I don’t know, the costume. And if you’re not feeling the vibe just say your coworker is waiting for you. It’s not rocket science.”

“Rocket science isn’t actually that hard.”

“Come on Chris,” Felix teased, leaning forward to catch Chan’s gaze. He snickered and that finally made Chan look up at him. “Maybe just stop with the alcohol, you’re all red again.”

Chan felt his face heat up even more, the tips of his ears on fire. He let Felix take the half-empty whiskey glass and press it to his cheek with a chuckle. Then his feet moved on their own accord, his thighs tingling and Chan knew what that meant, his head numb with similar sparks. He definitely wasn’t a lightweight, but he also didn’t hold back on drinks when he was nervous, downing one after the other as a way to fill the awkward silence.

He barely made a couple of steps forward with Felix right behind him when he stopped and let out a whine that he hoped only Felix could hear.

“I mean, isn’t this like,  _ super creepy _ from me? It’s his job, he probably gets it all the time, I don’t want to contribute to that.”

Felix sighed. “Why don’t you allow yourself to enjoy life a little bit? You told yourself to not date within the company but you work so much you don’t even have the chance to meet people that aren’t Woojin from accounting or Changbin from legal.”

“You called dibs on Changbin like two years ago.”

“Well,  _ yeah _ , but at least I called dibs. You’re just pining from distance and saying stuff like ‘it’s their decision if they return my feelings’. No one is going to thank you for  _ not _ asking them out.”

Chan sighed. He knew that Felix had a point.

He glanced in the direction of the man in the mermaid costume. He was currently talking to somebody, still sprawled out on the concrete wall and Chan wondered if his legs didn’t get sore from being in one position for almost two hours now. He was smiling at the people he was talking to, even laughing and Chan thought that his laugh was perhaps even more magical than the illusion of a mythical creature.

But then the brown-haired man turned his head and Chan wondered where he was looking before he realized that  _ oh, he’s looking at me _ and he knew that his ears went red even before he heard Felix chuckle. The man stopped laughing, his lips pressed together into a smile, but it wasn’t just a regular smile that he had been wearing the entire evening. The man fixed him with a gaze that bore straight into Chan’s soul.

And then he winked.

“Felix, did I just dream that or?” Chan muttered after he caught his breath.

“What?”

“Did he really just…” Chan turned to face Felix who looked at him with his brows furrowed.

“Sorry, I was checking my messages, what happened?”

“He,” Chan breathed out, his heart beating violently against his ribs. “He just winked at me.”

“Mate,” Felix shook his shoulder with laughter, “go talk to him. This is the closest you’ll get to an actual ‘yes, you can come flirt with me’.”

“I don’t know about this, Felix,” he looked him in the eyes. He felt sick to his stomach but it wasn’t the alcohol. 

_ Am I really getting anxiety from talking to a hot guy? _

“I’m not feeling this too much, let’s just go.”

Felix sighed. “Alright. You can go order an Uber and I’ll say goodbyes?”

So he walked all the way to the main street and sat down on the curb between a black Tesla and a white Bentley. He pulled out his phone and looked back at the Sydney Harbour Hotel one more time. Felix would probably take a while. So instead of opening the Uber app, he opened Instagram and looked at stories of various guests of the event, hoping to be swallowed into the depths of the Pacific ocean.

Then he heard Felix approach him from behind and Chan knew he would never hear the end of it.

Later that evening, Chan eventually found the mermaid model on Instagram and with that, his website. He found his name – Minho – and spend way too much time just looking at his pictures, careful to not heart every single one like he was tempted to.

When Chan got ready to go to his boss’ birthday party two weeks after the YG Film product launch, he had no idea that it would be the second time he would see Minho in real life.

It was a pool party at the CEO’s residence in the Sydney suburb of Woolwich and most of Chan’s coworkers were supposed to attend so he was looking forward to it, glad that he didn’t have to wear an actual suit. Still wanting to look good, he opted for a looser white shirt, leaving it unbuttoned at the top, and black jeans instead of slacks. Although he knew it was a pool party he wasn’t planning on actually going into the pool and he also didn’t plan to drink so he could drive himself and his friends home.

“I’m gonna do it today,” Felix told him resolutely when Chan picked him up from his apartment. “I will confess to Changbin. I swear.”

“Yeah, right,” Chan laughed. He had already lost count of how many times Felix had sworn to make a move on the coworker from the legal department. “The tissues are in the glove compartment, right next to the condoms. For when you start ugly-drunk crying on the way back because you chickened out again.”

“Alright, Chris, because you would never chicken out,” Felix said but his tone was still teasing.

They got to the residence of their CEO as the sun was setting, the driveway already packed with other cars so Chan had to park one street away. They walked through the gate and through the garden all the way to the backyard where the party was already in full swing. Music was playing loudly from giant speakers and everything was illuminated by colourful flashing lights, crowds of people scattered across the entire backyard.

Felix wanted to grab drinks first, so Chan followed him to the catering station, ordering a soft drink while Felix got a margarita. They made their way to the centrepiece of the garden – the pool – where most of the guests were standing. The pool was glowing and Chan could hear the faint splashing of water against the rim. 

“Chris, look, in the pool,” Felix pointed into the water and Chan felt his heart skip a beat.

In the middle of the light blue glow, there was a silhouette of a mermaid. But it wasn’t just a dark figure, its tail was lit up with countless little lights enhancing the mythical curves all the way from the fin to the human waist. The human torso was illuminated only slightly but Chan could still see the well-defined abs and wide shoulders, wet and glistening whenever the man moved his arms. Then he rolled around and Chan watched as his shoulders flexed when he dipped under the surface, the fin splashing water all around the pool as he submerged his entire body, the lights on the tail twinkling and casting sparkles into the evening air, the little waves glittering like pearls. He swam about two or three long strokes to get to the other side of the pool where he emerged gracefully, earning a cheer from his audience.

“Isn’t that the same guy from the YG Film launch?”

“I’m not sure,” Chan lied. He was certain it was him.

“What was his name? Mingi?”

“Minho,” Chan breathed out a little too quickly. He had seen the light-up tail already on Minho’s Instagram and had secretly hoped to see it in real life. He had been right when he thought to himself that a picture didn’t do it enough justice. Minho captured the audience of half the company just by swimming around and floating mindlessly in a sea of thousand little lights.

“That was it,” Felix hummed, looking around the crowd. “Look, that’s Changbin!”

So Chan tore his eyes away from Minho’s naked torso and went to greet Changbin, feeling like a third wheel already. But he pushed through, watching as Felix got progressively drunker and drunker and with that, more and more obvious with his attempts at flirting. Changbin wasn’t holding his alcohol any better, laughing at every single one of Felix’s jokes and blushing profusely under the soft chlorine glow of the pool. 

The evening progressed and Chan eventually found himself alone, talking to a couple of coworkers he recognized and forcing his way through small talk. One of his female coworkers even approached him to ask him to dance but he refused, telling himself that he simply needed to be drunk to dance, submitting to the urge to stay by the pool for as long as possible.

So that was how he ended up talking to a couple of guys from the sales department, not because he exactly enjoyed the conversation but simply because they didn’t seem as intoxicated as the other guests. Chan was only partially paying attention anyway, his eyes constantly going back to the pool as the men talked about which of their female coworkers had the best curves.

But then one of the men noticed, following his gaze to the pool and Chan tried his best to not stammer when he was questioned about it. He decided to play it safe and say that he finds  _ it _ interesting.

“I find it pretty hilarious, I mean, he’s a  _ guy _ , dressing up like a fucking  _ princess _ ,” the man laughed and his friends followed. Chan tried his best to ignore it, pressing his lips together to stop himself from commenting on it.

“Yeah mate, look at him, he even has eyeshadow and everything, not even my girlfriend puts so much on,” another man laughed. Chan bit his tongue.

“I bet he’s gay.”

“I bet he would do everything for money, like a cheap whore.”

Chan couldn’t listen to it anymore. His blood boiled as he fought the impulse to punch the man in the face. “Oi mate, don’t be so harsh,” he chuckled, trying to put on a smile. “I’m sure it takes a lot of effort, to hold your breath for so long?”

He clenched his fists when the men only laughed more at that, trying to shout witty remarks over each other. “Bet he could hold his breath to suck my dick!”

“That’s not too nice of you,” Chan gritted his teeth, immediately gaining the attention of one of the most vocal men.

“What, I bet he wouldn’t mind the extra buck,” the man cackled, his breath reeking with alcohol.

“Hey, he’s not a  _ whore _ ,” Chan bit back, the word tasting like bitter poison on his tongue. “He’s just doing his job. Leave him alone.”

“Are you defending him?” Chan couldn’t answer, the words stuck in his throat. He noticed that Minho got out of the pool and was now sitting on the rim with the tail swinging in the water and a towel around his shoulders. The man followed his gaze and snorted. “I’ll prove you just how cheap he is, look.”

He turned around to approach Minho and Chan’s stomach dropped. He didn’t have a lot of time to decide and so he acted on an impulse. His legs moved on their own and he saw red, just like the colour of Minho’s eyeshadow.

“Don’t fucking–,” he hissed at him, grabbing his wrist. He pulled him back with all the strength he could muster, adrenaline pumping through his veins, and then multiple things happened at the same time.

The man did turn around and Chan realized that he was much stronger than him, immediately freeing himself from the grasp. A whiff of chlorine blew past his face as the man furrowed his brows, fixing him with a deathly glare. Obviously drunker than Chan first thought, he nearly slipped on the wet floor as he puffed out his chest.

So Chan grasped his wrist again when it looked like he was just going to turn back around, but instead of the wrist his fingers wrapped around thin air and then a sharp elbow struck him right under his lungs. 

Air instantly knocked out of his chest, Chan’s vision went black, all of his other senses completely numb before he could even realize that the ground disappeared under his feet and that he was falling. The last thing he heard was a shout, but maybe it was the water hitting his ears.

Chan wasn’t really sure.

Was he going to die?

  
  
  
  
  


The first thing that came to his mind was  _ cold _ . His entire body was surrounded by it, ice burning through his flesh and turning his skin white. The frost entered his brain as well, leaving it numb, nothing but static in his ears.

_ Am I dead? _

His lungs hurt, the chlorine burning in the back of his throat as he started to cough and Chan wondered if perhaps icicles started to grow in his trachea.

“Can you hear me?”

He felt his back hit the concrete floor, trembling as his body forced out more coughing. The floor was cold and wet under his shoulders but his head was resting on something much softer, warmer.

“Hey, you, call the ambulance,” the voice spoke again.

He took another laboured breath as his eyes fluttered open, desperately trying to find something to focus on between the black fuzz.

“ _ Sir _ , I said  _ call _ the  _ ambulance _ ,” the voice grew impatient and Chan located it somewhere close to him.

“He looks okay, though,” another voice protested.

Despite the splitting headache and static in his ears, he finally started to recognize shapes in front of him. A pair of dark eyes looked at him directly from above and Chan wondered where did he know those eyes from, deep as the Mariana Trench.

_ Minho. _

“ _ Am I dead? _ ” He heard himself rasp out, voice hoarse, throat tight like if there was a barbed wire tightened around his neck.

The face above him – Minho’s face – twisted in an unfamiliar way and for a second Chan was scared that it was going to disappear and that this was his moment of entire life flashing in front of his eyes but then he heard a soft laugh. Only later Chan realized that he said it in Korean, not English.

Breathing was still hard but he finally looked around himself, realizing that he had been laid down on the floor right next to the pool and that all of the guests were crowded above him, watching him struggle for his life like if it were a movie. And then he realized that it was Minho’s hand under his head, protecting him from hitting the floor too hard and that there was another hand resting right under his chin, tilting his head back to make him breathe easier.

“No, you just went for a short swim,” Minho chuckled gently. “Can you move?”

Chan shifted his legs on the ground, feeling the floor under his feet and spread out his fingers, slowly coming to his senses. “I think I should be alright,” he said and manoeuvred his arms to support himself into a sitting position as the warmth of Minho's hands disappeared.

“Do you have any difficulty breathing?”

“Just a little winded,” Chan straightened his back to take a deep, shaky breath despite the pain it caused him, his lungs now shallow and heavy.

“Are you in any pain?”

He noticed that Minho was kneeling next to him in his full costume and couldn’t help but to stare at him in disbelief. He was at a party full of people but the person who saved him was the only one there who couldn’t even move his legs apart. Where was Felix anyway?

He shivered and realized that he was fully clothed.

“I’m freezing,” he said, peeling the now completely soaked through and translucent shirt away from his stomach before letting it fall back with a quiet wet sound as it collided with his skin. He could have sworn that Minho followed the movement with his eyes but he wasn’t going to trust his brain now. He shook his head in an attempt to move the hair from his face, water dribbling down his face and neck.

“I have towels on that table,” Minho pointed behind him. The crowd was now completely dispersed so Chan could see that on one of the tables near the pool there was a suitcase and a pile of folded towels. “I would get them for you but,” he said with a shy laugh and Chan could now properly look at his face from up close. “I can’t really walk now.”

Chan didn’t notice that he had been staring until Minho waved a hand in front of his face.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, sorry,” Chan managed.

“You should really get changed and rest.”

After he regained a little bit of strength and his breathing didn’t hurt as much anymore, Chan excused himself to peel off his shirt and jeans, now cursing at himself for choosing to wear something so tight when his trembling hands fought with buttons, and wrapped one of the towels –  _ Minho’s towels that smelled like flowers _ – all around himself. He eventually sat down at the edge of the pool in nothing but his underwear and the massive towel, legs dipped in the actually rather warm water.

And Minho was just there right next to him, swinging the lit up silicone tail in and out of the water, creating waves that Chan could feel splashing under his knees and there was something so endearing about it, so innocent it melted the last layer of frost on Chan’s skin. Minho looked at him once in a while as if to check whether he was still breathing.

_ Cute. _

“That’s a really cool touch, the lights,” he pointed to Minho’s tail and heard a soft chuckle. “People can see you even in the dark.”

“I made it myself, actually. They don’t make it anywhere, it’s hard to get these to be waterproof. It’s one of a kind.”

“Oh, wow, really? That’s… you’re really talented.”

Minho thanked him and they sat in silence for a while.

“You know,” Minho cleared his throat and Chan looked up at him to find his gaze. “I heard you talking to those guys before they shoved you. I heard what they said and…” Chan swallowed, his throat completely dry. He had completely forgotten about the incident and hearing about it again, remembering the ugly words that Minho had to listen to made his stomach turn. “I guess… I wanted to thank you. For standing up for me.”

Chan was speechless. Minho held his gaze and Chan didn't dare to move a single muscle.

“Not a lot of people do that,” Minho added, now much softer. Chan couldn’t help but think about whether it had happened to Minho often that somebody would start to talk trash about him while he was still on the job, not able to fight back.

“It’s the least I could do,” Chan managed a tight-lipped smile. Minho bit his lip and looked away.

“But maybe don’t get into fights when I’m not there to give you first aid,” he chuckled, much less serious this time.

“Is giving first aid part of the performance?”

“I’m actually certified for it. I have the lifeguard certification and then one for adult first aid, child and infant first aid and CPR. It’s pretty useful to have when you work with kids, you never know.”

“You work with kids a lot?”

“I do everything from kids birthday parties to bachelorette parties, music videos and ads. I have to say, this is my first time actually giving first aid during an adult event, although the bachelorette parties get intense as well.”

“There’s a first time for everything?” Chan tried and Minho laughed, another one of his loud laughs and Chan was hoping that this was his genuine one, not the one he was being paid for.

“Well, you were pretty much alright, I didn’t even have to do chest compressions or mouth to mouth,” Minho said and Chan felt his cheeks heat up at the thought. He hoped it wasn’t visible.

“So you’re like a mermaid and a lifeguard in one?”

“I prefer the term  _ mermaid performer _ because I’m not, like, actually a mermaid. But yeah, pretty much. It makes for a pretty good living.” Chan could listen to his voice the entire day. He didn’t have the usual Aussie accent, even struggling with some words so Chan assumed he learned English in Korea. It was hard to not ogle at Minho’s well-defined muscles, so he kept his gaze on the water. 

“You’re really...” he began but his tongue got tied and he could already hear Felix’s remarks. “I just wanted to say, I noticed you earlier, at the event in Sydney Harbour?”

“Yeah, I remember that. I think I saw you there, actually,” Minho smiled.

“So, I wanted to say,” Chan continued, feeling the tips of his ears heat up. “I think you’re amazing at what you do and,”  _ how do I put this so it doesn’t sound creepy _ , “you look great today.”

Chan was nervous to look up but it was too late to stop, so he did and met Minho’s gaze instantly. He was smiling at him with something in his eyes he couldn’t decipher. “Well, you’re not too bad yourself…”

“I’m Chan.”

“Chan. Thank you.”

Felix eventually noticed Chan and crouched down next to him with a grin on his face.

“Did you  _ dip in _ already?”

“Felix,” Chan said much louder than he needed to. “Are you having fun?”

“Yep,” he said with a loud pop and giggled. “I might have made out with Changbin.”

Chan was about to react when Felix suddenly lost balance and nearly tipped himself over into the water. Chan caught him by his arms and Felix laughed with a hiccup.

“Oops, almost drowned there,” he giggled and put his hands on Chan’s shoulders to stabilize himself. Minho chuckled and Chan fought the urge to look at him.

“‘Lix, can you do me a favour?”

“Sure.”

“Can you bring me a change of clothes from the car?”

“You brought a change of clothes?”

“Well, yeah,” Chan admitted shyly. “I didn’t expect it would be me needing it, but I did bring them just to be sure.”

It took Felix and Changbin almost half an hour before they located Chan’s car and found their way back and Chan wasn’t even going to ask why it took them so long, pretty sure that the answer wouldn’t be appropriate for Minho to hear just yet. It was a blessing in disguise because it allowed him to talk to Minho longer but he had also completely drowned his phone so he couldn’t ask for his number (which he would have definitely done otherwise).

He only reluctantly took off Minho’s towel to put on the sweats and oversized hoodie from the car but he also appreciated that he was now finally warm.

“Do you think we could go already?” Felix asked him and Chan nodded. He turned around and saw Minho slowly lowering himself back into the pool. Felix leaned closer to him to whisper into his ear. “Can we take Changbin as well?”

“Sure,” Chan muttered absentmindedly. “But you have to give me his address.”

“I sincerely hope he’s not going to sleep at his house tonight,” Felix whispered, pulling away from his ear with a loud giggle.

Then he skipped over to Changbin but Chan wasn’t paying attention anymore. He crouched down to pick up his wet clothes from the floor when he noticed that Minho was staring at him from the pool, muscular arms propped up on the edge to stay in place.

“Are you leaving?”

“Yeah,” he said and scooted over to face Minho. “But uh, thanks for uh… saving my life, you know.”

“My pleasure.”

Chan felt his cheeks heat up. “Do you maybe want a ride too?” 

Minho smiled. “It’s fine, I still have an hour to go.”

“Ah,” Chan nodded.  _ Stupid, stupid. _ “Have a nice evening, then.”

“See you around, Chan,” Minho smiled as he stood up.

“Bye,” he waved at him, hesitantly turning around to leave.

“Who’s Chan?” Changbin asked him as he stumbled to the car.

“That’s my dumb name,” he muttered and heard Felix erupt into laughter. If Felix remembered this in the morning, he would definitely not let him hear the end of it, Chan was sure.

It was a week after when Felix confronted Chan in his office about a recent development regarding their newest marketing campaign. Chan had been working on the project for about two months already, as soon as it was confirmed that they would be launching a new series of waterproof speakers, just in time for summer. So just the patter of feet quickly headed towards his office shortly before 5 pm made him uneasy, already preparing for the worst.

“Diamond Model Management got into a scandal,” Felix said before he even entered his office with a laptop opened in one hand.

“Diamond?” Chan repeated as Felix pulled up a chair and set the laptop on Chan’s table so he would see on the monitor.

“We’re scheduled for a shoot on Thursday with them for the ad but this just came out.”

“ _ CEO of Diamond Management accused of sexual assault by a former model,” _ Chan read the headline under his breath. He frowned, putting a palm in front of his mouth. The headline itself made him sick.

“Yeah,” Felix nodded, leaning back in his chair. “Like, maybe it’s not even true, but at this point… I believe it. The dude never felt nice to have around.”

Chan nodded. They had an inclusive contract with Diamond Model Management and it terrified Chan that they had been supporting  _ that _ all along.

“But still, even if the accusations turned out to be untrue I really don’t think it’s a good idea to work with them at the moment.”

“No, yeah,” Chan finally collected his thoughts. “We have to terminate the contract, right now. Call your boyfriend from legal.”

“He’s not…!” Felix went red at the sudden change of topic. This really wasn’t the time to discuss his love life but neither of them could help it. He noticed the corners of Chan’s mouth quiver as he suppressed a smile. “You’re really making me do this, huh?”

“Mhm,” Chan nodded and scrolled down the article on Felix’s laptop. He was very well aware that Felix hadn’t  _ talked _ talked to Changbin yet, ever since the pool party after which they’d left together to Felix’s apartment for what really wasn’t supposed to be just a one-night stand. But he was also Felix’s boss so he used the opportunity to make him talk to Changbin.

“Well, aren’t we majorly screwed, huh,” Chan said after Felix finished talking to Changbin over the phone. He rubbed his palms over his face. “The shoot is in three days, we put a down payment for the booking a month ago…”

“Maybe we could get Diamond to pay for damages?”

“That’s just gonna be a hassle and we need the ad by next week anyway. We need the models, legal can sort the money with Diamond later.”

“I have an idea,” Felix said after a silent moment. Chan looked up at him from his hands, elbows propped up on the table. “But you’re not gonna like it.”

“Good to know?”

“It’s a waterproof speaker, right. So what if, instead of just hot people posing on the beach we had… a mermaid.”

Chan fixed him with a deadly glare. “Haha.”

“No,” Felix reached forward with a grin. “I actually mean it. We haven’t done anything like that. Don’t tell me you  _ don’t _ think that a  _ mermaid _ would get a lot of attention.”

Chan let out a drawn-out sigh. 

“With all of these modelling agencies, we would have to book in a huge advance, especially without a contract. I’m just suggesting if we tried to book someone independent maybe they would be free sooner?”

“And that’s how you came to the conclusion that we should  _ hire a mermaid?” _ Felix shrugged and Chan sighed. “Alright, let’s take a look.”

So Chan began typing into the search engine, partly out of petty to prove to Felix that it was a stupid idea, partly because he wasn’t exactly sure why he found it so stupid so he wanted to convince himself.

To his own disappointment, he found that not a lot of  _ mermaid performers _ actually operated in Sydney. They found a couple of contacts that Felix tried to call right away but barely anyone picked up.

“There’s one that you missed, though,” Felix said as they sat in silence, thinking about what to do next.

Chan felt his chest constrict.

“What about Minho?”

Chan would be lying if he said that he hadn’t thought of him. He did think about him too much, actually, and sometimes he would fall asleep to the memory of a set of brown eyes looking at him from above. It would be during the most random moments during the day when he would remember the smell of Minho’s warm towels, the way water glistened on his body, the sound of his laugh and how his eyes crinkled when he smiled. He went to check his Instagram profile almost ten times a day, sometimes during meetings, sometimes when he needed to fuel his fantasies at night.

Felix stood up and took back his laptop when Chan didn’t reply. “Look, Chris, I don’t think we’ll get anywhere by sitting here all evening. No one is picking up the phone because it’s already past five and I don’t want you to lose sleep because of this.”

Chan looked up at him, leg bouncing under the table.

“I only suggested Minho because you could get preferential treatment.”

_ Preferential treatment? _

“I’m gonna go, let’s talk about this tomorrow.”

Felix had a point and Chan knew it, which is why it took him only some reluctance to find the address of the water park where Minho performed at the most often. He told him about it at the pool when they talked about Minho’s work with children – apparently, it was the easiest to hold birthday parties at the water park rather than at private pools as Minho didn’t have to rely on the trust that the customers would help him with getting in and out of the pool.

Chan tried to not think about it too much as he drove down to the Sunrise Beach Water Park, hoping that Minho would be there and dreading it at the same time. He had no reason to expect Minho to treat him in any way that was different from how he treated his other customers, yet it was the very thing that he needed at the moment.

He was allowed inside the park when he explained at the front desk that he was there for business and he was apparently very lucky that day because the young long-haired man that was the receptionist didn’t even question it, only asking for his name after eyeing him with an unreadable expression.

Chan gave him his Korean name.

The receptionist, dressed much more appropriately for the pool with bright orange swim trunks and a white t-shirt then instructed him to take off his shoes and socks before walking him halfway to the pool where Minho was currently working. Chan regretted not leaving his jacket in the car, the water park way too warm for him to be wearing a full suit.

There was a small crowd of children, either standing around the shallow pool or swimming around with colourful floaties and in the middle of everything was a head of brown hair. The water park was loud, voices from all directions echoing between splashes of water crashing into tiled walls, but Chan could still hear Minho’s laugh cutting through the noise, the warm, honey-like timbre making his heart pick up a nervous pace.

“He’s there,” the blonde receptionist pointed and Chan saw Minho turn around and meet his gaze. “The program is ending in a couple of minutes, so if you don’t mind waiting…?”

“No, yeah, it’s fine,” Chan said absentmindedly, mesmerized by the sight in front of them.

The receptionist was about to turn around when he hesitated, facing Chan with a smirk. He had a certain way of moving his tall limbs around that unsettled Chan, making him feel like he was being judged the entire time with how his gaze constantly shifted, scanning Chan’s face. “I’m totally asking this just for… security purposes, but are you by any chance the Chan from the JYP Electronics pool party about a week ago?”

Chan furrowed his brows at him.  _ What sort of question is that? _ “Uh, maybe?”

“Alright,” the receptionist hummed, looking him up and down one last time before turning around on his heel to walk away. 

_ What was that about? _

He checked his phone – a new one that he had to get after drowning the old one – but there were no new notifications. He decided to send Felix a picture of his feet as he stood on the wet tiled floor of the water park with a caption “ _ you win _ ”. He didn’t wait for an answer, pocketing the device and looking up at the kids' pool.

The crowd of children had started to clear out and Minho was waving to the kids that were the most reluctant to leave, their parents coming in to sweep them from the floor. One kid in particular, a little girl in a pink bathing suit, refused to move, yelling that she also wanted to become a mermaid. When her mum tried to pick her up she instantly went red and started to bawl to which Minho reacted by approaching her gently and whispering something into her ear that immediately quieted her. Stunned, she let her mum pick her up and they walked away, leaving Minho in the pool alone. 

“Hi,” Chan said when he was close enough for Minho to hear him. Minho smiled at him and grasped the edge of the pool, lifting himself out of water. Chan found himself staring at his muscular torso, water dripping everywhere as his arms flexed to hold his weight and Chan’s mind went straight to the image of Minho looking exactly like that on Chan’s bed, sprawled out and squirming under his touch. He clenched his fist in an attempt to banish the thought.

“Hi Chan,” Minho said as he sat down at the edge of the pool. This time his fishtail was baby blue and his eyeshadow was much softer, the colour matching the fin with silver details. He looked innocent and pure, a stark contrast to the golden red, almost sinful look that had first caught Chan’s attention.

Chan wasn’t sure if he wanted to take care of him and tuck him into bed or to completely ruin him, fuck him into the mattress until he couldn’t speak.

“Aren’t you a little bit overdressed for swimming classes, baby boy?”

Chan almost choked on his spit. How did Minho figure him out so quickly? “I’m here for business, actually,” he managed.

“Oh?” Minho lifted his eyebrows at him as Chan crouched down next to him.

Chan explained as briefly as possible, only barely able to hold Minho’s gaze. “So, it’s really last minute and I totally get if you say no but I was wondering if you maybe wanted the job?”

“When is the shoot?”

“Thursday afternoon,” Chan winced.

“Like,  _ this _ Thursday?”

“As I said, it’s last-minute so–”

“No, I’m actually free,” Minho interrupted him. “I’m usually booked two months in advance but someone cancelled this morning.”

Chan was speechless. This was way too much luck on one day.

Minho laughed softly when Chan didn’t reply. “You’re looking at me like if I just agreed to do porn or something.”

All of the blood in Chan’s body rushed into his head.  _ Don’t think about that, don’t think about that. _

“Wait, or did I?”

“No, no!” Chan crossed his arms in front of his chest, trying to splutter out an explanation as Minho laughed. “No, it’s not– nothing like that, I promise. Just a beach photoshoot, I swear.”

“Alright, I believe you,” Minho snickered at Chan’s suffering. “I was just messing with you. Though I would have to reject you if it was something inappropriate, I don’t think they would let me work with kids after that.”

“I promise you it’s just a normal shoot,” Chan said, tips of his ears on fire, and pulled out his phone to find the notes about the project. He explained the details about what kinds of shots they were planning to do and Minho even excitedly added his own ideas on how to adapt the shots from a human model to a mermaid model. Chan felt his throat close up when Minho decided to show him some of his photos for inspiration, borrowing his phone to find his Instagram profile which was already bold in Chan’s search history, some of the photos marked with a red heart. Minho, fortunately, didn’t comment on the fact but Chan was sure he’d noticed.

They eventually decided that Chan would give Minho’s contact to the photography team which meant that Minho borrowed his phone once again to put in his phone number. 

“Well, look at you,” Chan sighed when Minho handed back the phone. “Saving my life once again.”

Minho grinned. “I’m starting to enjoy it.”

Chan kept glancing at his watch for the entirety of the meeting. The photography team contacted Minho and settled all the details without Chan’s assistance, after all, Chan wasn’t needed at the photoshoot at all. It ignited a spark of possessiveness in him – he didn’t want to  _ share _ Minho with anyone while at the same time wanting the best for him, wanting Minho to get the appreciation he deserved.

It was already well past five o’clock when they finally started to wrap up the meeting with their company’s legal team and Chan just hoped that he could still make it in time to see Minho on set as he had promised. He had already received a selfie from him –  _ a selfie from the actual Lee Minho _ – when he had arrived on set and Chan couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was just a normal picture of Minho without any of the dramatic eye makeup in a simple T-shirt, but the fact that it was just  _ normal _ made Chan’s chest flutter just upon opening the message. This was his first time seeing Minho outside of his costume.

Felix, of course, had noticed Chan spacing out every couple of minutes which was very much unlike him and even caught him red-handed, looking at his phone under the table with Minho’s picture on the screen.

“Chris, I think you can go if you need to,” Felix told him boldly when a big portion of attendees of the meeting had left. “I’ll handle the formalities, you should check on our models.”

“It’s fine,” Chan said. Although Felix was his subordinate Chan knew he was capable of taking the leading role in a meeting but he was still reluctant to let go. It was  _ his _ obligation, after all. And  _ their _ models didn’t need checking on, that was the photographers’ job.

Felix fixed Chan with a meaningful gaze as he was about to say something. Then he quickly averted his eyes to the side, moving his chin as if to point at someone behind Chan and then he looked back at Chan with a spark of mischief in his face.

Chan had been so lost in his head that he didn’t even realize there was only one person left in the room with them.  _ Seo Changbin. _

“Alright,” he exhaled, closing his laptop. Felix wanted to talk to Changbin in private and if Chan left, he would have the perfect opportunity. “Let’s talk tomorrow in my office.”

“Sure,” Felix nodded as Chan started to pack up his things to leave. “Say hi.”

Chan practically ran out of the building to his car and almost speeded to the photoshoot venue. It was pretty far away from the city centre, on a remote private beach attached to a luxurious seafront Airbnb villa that had been rented out specifically for the photoshoot. The listing for the villa didn’t exaggerate – the view was  _ beautiful _ , white beach shining under the afternoon sun and the sound of waves crashing against nearby rocks echoing all the way to the villa.

This time Chan left his jacket and tie in the car and took off his shoes as well before feeling the soft, warm sand underneath his bare feet. The photography crew was taking up most of the beach with various equipment and advertising team members making sure the shots were perfect for the marketing campaign. 

Like the beach itself, Minho was…  _ beautiful _ , Chan thought as he approached the set. This time he was wearing a dark blue tail with golden details and a tiara to match, making him look like the prince of an underwater kingdom. His eyeshadow was similar in colour scheme but this time Chan noticed a gemstone sparkling under the outside corner of each of his eyes. Chan’s gaze then fell to his torso and there was gold glitter  _ everywhere _ , on his collar bones, outlining each and every well-defined muscle, all the way from the arms to the abs and for a moment Chan let himself think about what it would be like to trace all of those lines with his tongue. 

He quickly pushed the thought away.

Minho was the first one to notice him as he approached the set and his eyes lit up with something Chan was too nervous to name. He gave him an awkward little wave and it was at that moment when the photography crew finally noticed him.

“Chris! I didn’t expect you here,” the main photographer put down his camera to greet him with a high five.

“Jaebum, hi.” The whole crew turned around to greet Chan or to at least acknowledge him with a nod and it made him a little bit shy. He ushered Jaebum to continue with the shoot so Minho’s burning gaze would leave him but even when the shoot continued he felt hot all over. Maybe it was just the evening sun.

He located the monitor that displayed the photos in high resolution to look at the most recent ones. Minho was currently posing in a half-sit on the wet sand that got barely any water with each wave, leaning back on his elbows in a way that showed off his abs and drew attention to his neck when he let his head hang back a little bit. And of course, there were the waterproof speakers that the advertisement was for but Chan already knew those so he ignored the product placement completely.

There was also a part of Minho's costume that Chan wasn't sure he missed previously or if it was a special feature of that specific fishtail – the upper hem of the tail that wrapped around Minho's waist, straight across his hip bones, was the slightest bit curved right in the front, creating a v-shape over his abdomen, almost purposefully teasing Chan about what was hiding just a few centimetres under the hem, about what the v-shape was pointing at.

The new pictures started flashing over the screen and Chan almost didn't notice that the pose had changed the slightest bit. Minho was now lying on the ground completely, one hand at the waist and the other next to his head, hair now fanned out the slightest bit over the sand. Jaebum was even standing on a box so he could get shots from right above him and Minho never failed to maintain eye contact with the camera. In fact, Chan felt like if Minho was staring right through the lens at him and it sparked heat in his lower stomach as he tried his hardest to not think about Minho in the same position but on his bed with Chan holding him pinned in place.

“Let’s take a break, set up a new shot for the golden hour,” Jaebum tore Chan out of his thoughts and for once, Chan was glad. Minho was there for work and if maybe he had winked at him when their eyes met or if his smile was a little bit warmer when it was aimed at Chan, that was just him being nice to the people paying him.

Chan watched as Minho sat up again, brushing off some of the sand that stuck to his skin when his phone buzzed with a new message.

_ [Felix]: I did it! Finally had the talk with Changbin. I think we’re dating now? _

He should have been happy for his friend but instead, Chan felt a pang of envy. If even Felix was able to overcome his shyness after  _ two years _ why was Chan still getting stuck like this?

“Hi,” he crouched next to Minho before he was able to change his mind.

“Hey,” Minho breathed out and Chan was speechless for a moment, suddenly overwhelmed by the sight in front of him.

“How’s it going?”

“It’s pretty fun, actually. Jaebum is a good photographer.”

“I’m glad.” There was a moment of silence, constricting Chan’s lungs before Minho chuckled softly.

“So is it  _ Chan _ or  _ Chris?” _

Chan felt his cheeks heat up. “I– It’s both, actually,” he rubbed the back of his neck. “I usually introduce myself as Chris because it’s easier in English but I, uh… you’re Korean too, right, so I, uh…”

Minho laughed. “I see. I think I get you, though. You probably noticed… English isn’t my first language so I prefer Korean anyway. I grew up in Seoul and moved here for high school.”

“ _ Maybe I could practice my Korean with you _ ,” Chan said in Korean and Minho beamed at him.

“ _ Then tell me something. _ ”

A moment of silence. Chan held his breath. “I was thinking,” he continued speaking in Korean as his heart pounded in his chest.  _ Now or never. _ “I wanted to thank you for saving me, both times. Would you let me buy you dinner? After you finish here?”

Minho’s face lit up with a wide, bright smile. Chan wondered if that was because of the sense of familiarity that came with hearing one’s native language. “Sure, I would like that.”

Chan’s heart sped up. “Alright, great,” he breathed out. Minho’s voice didn’t  _ change _ , it was still the same, smoky timbre, the colour of the deep ocean, the sound of hot summer rain pouring over the bay, but yet it felt like discovering an entirely different side of Minho, like if what Chan has had the chance to see so far was just the tip of the iceberg.

He felt himself falling, gently and dangerously at the same time. He wasn’t plummeting through the thin air to the hard ground, he was sinking down slowly into the depths of the Tasman sea holding his breath, afraid to find out what would happen if he just let go. Perhaps the water wouldn’t fill his lungs, perhaps he wouldn’t drown. 

After that Minho had to move to a different position to continue with the shoot and Chan went to stand in the back, to a spot that allowed him to watch the set and the monitor in a way that wasn’t as obvious but he could barely hold his awe as new photos began to appear on the screen. The sun was setting over the ocean and Minho was  _ glowing _ as the last rays of sunshine ignited the glitter all over his upper body, making him look like he was actually made of gold, a statue of a Greek god rather than a mere human right in front of Chan. He almost felt like he should avert his eyes so he wouldn’t fall into disgrace with the deity yet at the same time he couldn’t look away, the twinkling of light of incoming tidal wave sparking fire somewhere deep in his chest.

The sky eventually fell into a dark shade of blue, the inside of Chan’s stomach staying aflame.

“Thank you, everyone, good job,” Jaebum exclaimed and everybody started to pack up the gear. Chan approached Minho.

“Can I help you with anything?”

Minho gave him a wide smile. “It’s okay, I have my stuff in the house. But you could carry me, I guess,” he giggled but Chan wasn’t there to play around.

“You don’t have to ask twice,” he said and before Minho could realize what was happening he snuck an arm under his legs and one below his back and lifted him off the ground.

Minho let out a small yelp, wrapping his hands around Chan’s neck to stabilize himself. Chan met his eyes, slightly shocked but overall pleasantly surprised. Minho’s costume was slightly wet but Chan didn’t care, he could have ended up with sand all over his work suit and he wouldn’t even notice when Minho’s body was pressed against his.

“I was just kidding, you don’t have to carry me…”

“Are you complaining?”

Minho looked away and shook his head.

“So, where are your chambers, your majesty?” Minho's eyes widened in shock before he started laughing, playfully slapping Chan’s shoulder.

Chan carried him all the way to one of the bedrooms of the villa where Minho had all of his things so he could change. Although parting was the last thing he wanted to do and the realization that he was bridal-carrying Minho into a luxurious bedroom was messing with his head, he placed him on an armchair in the middle of the room and left to talk with the photography team, closing the door behind him.

He pretended he didn’t understand when Jaebum teased him about the glitter and wet sand all over his shirt and slacks.

After about thirty minutes Minho finally came out of the room with a huge suitcase and almost immediately located Chan sitting on the couch in the middle of the giant living room with some of the photography crew members. 

The second Chan saw Minho he almost choked on his spit.

It wasn't supposed to come as a surprise but Chan was still moderately shocked to see him in form-fitting blue jeans and a white t-shirt. 

_ Legs, _ was the only word on Chan's mind.

He tried his hardest not to stare, especially when Minho's thighs were in his direct line of vision from where he was sitting on the couch, but he was certain that Minho noticed when he saw the little smirk on his lips. 

"I'm good to go," he said as he dragged the suitcase towards the couch and Chan stood up, patting the pockets of his slacks to make sure he had his keys. Then he said goodbye to the crew, ignoring the suspicious looks and heading straight out of the villa.

"Let me help you with that," he offered, taking Minho's suitcase to carry it to the trunk of his car. They lifted the luggage into the car together and for a brief moment, their eyes met as their fingers almost touched on one of the handles.

This time up close, Chan could see that Minho wasn't wearing the dramatic eyeshadow anymore and that his face was pretty much bare apart from a light concealer and stray specks of glitter here and there. 

_ Gorgeous. _

They settled on going to a Korean barbecue restaurant that was conveniently close to Minho's apartment. It took all of Chan's willpower to not put his hand on Minho's thigh when he was this close so he gripped the steering wheel so hard until his knuckles turned white like the sea foam.

“So for how long have you been doing this?” Chan asked him at one point when they got stuck in traffic.

Minho chuckled. “ _ This _ ? Like, professional mermaid performer or just model?”

“I guess both?” Chan was glad that he was sitting behind a wheel and therefore had an excuse to not look at Minho, too nervous from the mere fact that he now had the most gorgeous being sitting in the car with him, the implications of them going to dinner far too clear for him to even think about it, let alone face it.

“I see,” Minho hummed. He would keep his eyes on the road in front of him for the majority of the time but would also occasionally switch his gaze between his hands folded in his lap, the front door window and Chan, or perhaps he was just looking out of the window behind him and Chan was only imagining the spark in his eyes whenever he did.

“Well, I started even before I moved to here, my parents took me to auditions for commercials and modelling clothes, I spent basically all of my free time just doing that as a kid.”

“So like a child actor?”

“Yeah, it was a big thing for my parents, I think they wanted me to make it big in the industry. But then got divorced and my mum decided that she wanted to experience something new so she got a job in Perth and I finished high school there. It was pretty much a nightmare, I could barely introduce myself in English so I was worried that I wouldn’t even graduate which is why my mum stopped signing me up for auditions. Instead, I learned English and eventually I graduated.” Minho stopped talking when Chan declared they were at the restaurant and he only needed to find a place to park so for the following minutes they sat in silence as Chan scanned the neighbouring streets for a free spot.

“So when did you move to Sydney?” Chan asked when they finally stepped out of the car and headed to the restaurant. 

“Do you want the short version or the long version?”

“What do you mean?”

Minho looked down at his feet, laughing nervously. “I don’t want to bore you with details.”

Chan opened the door to the restaurant, holding it for Minho to walk inside. “I asked you, why would I be bothered with details?”

Minho didn’t reply immediately, sitting down at one of the tables instead. They ordered their food and even in the dim lighting of the restaurant Chan could see a light blush on his cheeks. “I guess most of the guys I talked to weren’t interested in the details.”

It was sort of cryptic – who exactly did Minho mean by  _ most of the guys I talked to _ ? Chan felt a wave of possessiveness again, he wanted to treat Minho right, the way he deserved. At that moment he decided that he would pluck all of the stars from the night sky if it meant that Minho would shine the brightest. 

“I am, interested,” Chan assured him.

“Alright,” Minho chuckled and looked visibly relieved. “So, after high school, I went to study biology at university but stayed in Perth. At this point, English was pretty okay so I started to look into modelling myself and signed up for a couple of auditions, did some photoshoots for clothing brands and random stuff, that was actually the first time I tried on the mermaid costume. It was for this one brand that really enjoyed doing the mermaid concept and they kept me for a while and I started building a portfolio. But then marine biology caught my interest and I started looking more into environmentalism and I started learning about ocean pollution…”

“That’s nasty stuff, right,” Chan nodded. He had seen the photos and videos of trash floating around in the ocean and even donated to a few fundraisers dedicated to cleaning up beaches but all of the information he had was mostly from social media.

“Yeah, exactly,” Minho nodded and Chan could see a little spark in his eyes – this was something Minho was passionate about and it enticed Chan even more he almost forgot that there was food on the table for them to eat. “So I was like, this isn’t right. I decided to organize a little fundraiser in school and well…” Minho blushed, smiling at the food between his chopsticks and then back at Chan. “I tried to get a lot of attention by modelling as a mermaid. I took self-timer pics with my phone and I borrowed one of the mermaid costumes from the brand I was working with and it worked. I raised a lot of money and then donated it to an ocean clean-up organization in Perth.”

“That’s… that’s the coolest thing I ever heard,” Chan stared at him in disbelief. Minho only continued to smile shyly.

“Well, didn’t last long. My modelling agency had a problem with that, a combination of me making money off my body and face without them and just pure envy that I wasn’t even keeping the money. So I graduated early, saved up to buy my own costumes and moved to Sydney for more opportunities and a fresh start.”

“And that was how long ago?” Chan was, for the lack of better words, stunned. He suddenly felt unaccomplished, always following the path set for him, going to a corporate office job right after graduating from university, not even moving out of the city he was born in.

“Maybe three years ago? Fortunately, my Instagram page already had some following and I quickly found a couple of jobs that secured me with some money to prove to my mum that I wasn’t going to starve to death. So I started my own company, basically, when I met Hyunjin – you met him at the pool. He works part-time at the pool and helps me with things behind the scenes, sort of like my manager. We organize a lot of charity events to, well, generally raise awareness about ocean pollution.”

“That’s… so amazing, I had no idea,” Chan said. “Is there anything, in particular, you’ve been working on?”

Minho though for a moment, maintaining eye contact and Chan wondered how obvious it was that he was falling head over heels for him. “There is a lot of companies that pollute the ocean all around the world, but there’s also one in Brisbane… Brisbane Coatings I think they’re called. They’ve been dumping their trash into the ocean for years but always somehow dodge any fines. It makes me sick just to imagine how much pollution they create, I mean, they manufacture paint and all sorts of chemicals go into that, it leaks into the surface waters and gets into the drinking water... So we’re trying to bring attention to it but neither I nor Hyunjin is too skilled in law and we’re still researching a lot.”

“And you’re doing all of this on top of modelling?” Chan said in awe and Minho nodded. “I don’t even know what to say, that’s… really cool.” And Chan hated how much Minho got him tongue-tied just by licking the sauce from the corner of his lips because he really wanted to appreciate what he was doing but then Minho was fanning his t-shirt to cool himself down and Chan caught a glimpse of the bare skin underneath and despite seeing Minho shirtless a couple of times before it still made his cheeks heat up and his mind started going to inappropriate places.

“I’m trying my best, yeah,” Minho smiled and Chan knew he was  _ whipped. _

Minho was perfect.

“But what about you?” he asked after a moment of silence. “Tell me something about you.” He kept his gaze on him and Chan felt like he was staring right into his soul.

“I’m not very interesting,” he said, almost as an apology. “After university, I got a job in my company and then got lucky when they promoted me to the head of marketing. I love it there, my coworkers are really fun and that’s the main thing for me. But other than that it’s pretty boring.”  _ Until you came into my life. _

“Don’t say that, what do you do for fun?”

Chan scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “Well, in my free time I try to do music but that’s just a hobby.”

“See, that’s pretty cool too!” Minho said with a smile so bright Chan believed it

“I’m not saving the world like you, though.”

Minho shook his head. “Then maybe, in an alternate universe, you are saving the world with your music?”

Chan started laughing and Minho followed shortly after with the smile that Chan loved to see so much.

_ Adorable. _

They didn’t try to rush the dinner and when they walked out of the restaurant it was already dark out, nothing but a sliver of light lingering on the horizon. Chan promised Minho to help him with the luggage so they got back into the car and drove to his apartment but this time with much more tension between them – the same kind of tension that hung in the air whenever they would catch each other’s eye during a moment of silence or when their hands would touch accidentally while passing something over the table. 

It felt nice. Chan liked to be around Minho and it would be a lie to say that he didn’t want for the night to continue.

“This way to the right,” Minho instructed him when they were nearing his apartment building. The car took a smooth turn and Chan’s heart picked up a pace in anticipation. “The one with the white columns.”

Fortunately, there was a free parking spot right in front of the entrance so Chan pulled into it and for a moment the car was completely silent. Then Minho turned to look at him and Chan met his eyes. Minho opened his mouth to say something but instead, he looked down into his lap and smiled.

“What?” Chan chuckled. Minho looked back up at him.

“Thank you for today, it was nice,” he said with a spark in his eyes.

“Of course,” Chan breathed out. “I should be thanking you for showing up.” A beat of silence. “Do you want to help with the suitcase?”

“I don’t want to bother you, Chan. I can carry it myself, anyway.”

“Come on, you saved my life, this is the least I can do,” he insisted and Minho reluctantly agreed.

They got out of the car and Chan picked the suitcase up by the handle at the side – there was also a pull handle and four wheels but he figured that maybe carrying it like that would justify him going all the way to the front door of Minho’s apartment instead of just leaving him on the sidewalk. 

“I have to ask,” Chan spoke up when they got into the elevator. “What did you mean when you said that ‘most guys weren’t interested in details’?”

Minho exhaled. He was leaning against the wall of the cabin while Chan stood in the middle, facing the door. “Well, long story short, I only ever meet two types of guys: the kind that gets immediately turned off when I tell them what I do for work and the kind that likes the mermaid shtick but doesn’t stay around for the human part.”

Chan was at a loss for words. The unspoken question was clear:  _ Which type are you? _

He hoped that he wasn’t either of those – he loved to see Minho in the costume and he loved to talk to him – but he also couldn’t deny that he wanted more.

“This is me,” Minho announced when the elevator opened and they walked to a grey door at the end of the hall. With each step Chan felt the butterflies in his stomach brush their fiery wings against his insides, sparks flying into his bloodstream, making him yearn for the depths of the ocean to relieve the burn.

Minho didn’t unlock the door right away and instead leaned against it, looking straight into Chan’s eyes. “I hope we can do this again?” He didn’t want to sound as insecure as he felt.

Minho hummed in agreement. “Sure,” he smiled at him, “you have my number so just text me whenever.”

Chan wanted Minho to know how much he had enjoyed his company, how much he wanted to get closer, how much he wanted to kiss him breathless.

He took a step closer and Minho’s smile faltered when he closed his mouth to swallow. They were only centimetres apart and he could hear Minho’s breathing, hoping that Minho couldn’t hear how loud his heartbeat was in the quiet hallway. 

Minho maintained their eye contact, not for one second moving his gaze and Chan felt fixed in place as if Minho was a siren and he was his prey, as if a single move would stir the waters and the siren would leap after him, digging his sharp teeth into his neck to tear him apart, the seawater would spill right into the open wounds and his scalding hot blood would paint the ocean the same shade of red like was the colour of Minho’s eyeshadow.

He felt something warm close around his wrist before sliding down to capture his hand so he looked down and saw that it was Minho, Minho was holding his hand so gently as if he had heard Chan’s thoughts and was afraid to scare him away. Chan’s heart was beating violently against his ribcage and he felt his cheeks heat up but Minho was there, holding his hand so he decided that even if he really was a siren he would gladly let himself get torn apart.

Minho was still watching him when he looked back up. Chan took one more step, this time definitely getting into his personal space. His gaze fell to Minho’s lips, red and glistening from being bitten into.

“Can I?” he heard himself mutter.

The tidal wave crashed into him when Minho leaned forward and kissed him, gentle with a tinge of eagerness, one hand on the back of Chan’s neck to hold him close. Caught off guard it took Chan a second to react before he was kissing him back, kissing him like he was the air he needed to survive, letting himself drown in the warmth of Minho’s body against his. He let go of his palm to put his hands around Minho’s waist when he felt Minho’s tongue on his lips so he let him lick into his mouth and with that the kiss got messier, more intense and heated.

Minho gasped into his mouth when Chan pushed him gently and his back hit the door, their bodies flush against each other. Minho’s hands were now holding Chan’s face and Chan felt  _ warm _ so he kissed him deeper until he could barely breathe.

“Wanted to do this ever since I saw you,” Chan muttered against his lips with his eyes still closed and Minho reacted by kissing him again.

“Me too,” he breathed out and dragged his hands down Chan’s body, fingertips pressing against the fabric of his shirt to try and feel his muscles. Chan almost moaned at that so he connected their lips again, hands slowly moving down to Minho’s bottom before he rolled his hips forward.

“A-ah,” Minho gasped into his mouth and Chan felt him through his pants, half-hard already pressing against Chan’s thigh. It only encouraged Chan more, repeating the motion and biting his lip at the same time, squeezing his butt lightly.

Minho let out a soft moan and Chan smiled into the kiss. He himself wasn’t unaffected, his mind already fogged up with want, already picturing pinning Minho down onto his bed, undressing him hastily, biting into the soft skin on his shoulder, marking his thighs, making him moan even more with just his fingers and mouth alone–––

“Wait, Chan,” Minho suddenly broke the kiss. “Stop.”

Chan immediately halted all of his movements and pulled away to give him space, hands moving back to the small of his back. He opened his eyes but Minho kept his closed. He heard him exhale through his nose and then inhale slowly. “Everything okay?”

“Y-yeah, sorry, I–”

“Hey, don’t apologize,” Chan assured him and Minho eventually opened his eyes. He took a couple of deep breaths and didn’t push away Chan at all which helped him in not panicking that he had done something wrong.

Reluctant to meet his gaze, Minho tried to explain. “I want this, I really do, I just– this will sound really stupid but I have a thing tomorrow, like a big performance at the sea world and… ugh, this is awkward but I kinda… want to be in good shape? And…”

Chan couldn’t help but chuckle. Minho gave him a dirty look.

“It’s not that I think you would  _ hurt me _ or something but from experience…”

Chan put his hand on his cheek and caressed it. “It’s okay, I understand,” he smiled. It really felt more like a compliment, the fact that Minho had thought about moving further and perhaps even imagined it, not just the act itself but also Chan’s strength against him. “We don’t have to rush anything. This wasn’t even a proper date.”

Minho smiled at the last word. They pulled apart completely and he started to dig through his pockets for keys. “Thank you, anyway. I really like talking to you.”

“Likewise,” Chan nodded. “I’m gonna take you out properly next time.”

“Looking forward to it,” Minho toyed with the keys in his hands. They looked at each other for a moment longer before Chan leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss onto his cheek.

“Goodnight,” he said as he pulled away.

“Night,” Minho waved at him and Chan could barely tear his eyes off him when the elevator finally opened.

The night was getting cold but Chan felt warm, still replaying the kiss in his head as he drove to his own apartment. That evening he came to the memory of Minho’s body pressed against his, the taste of his name lingering on his lips as he spilled into his hand.

When Chan arrived at the office the following day the first thing he noticed was Changbin sitting on Felix’s desk and chatting with the younger with a fond look on his face – really nothing too out of the ordinary except now Felix wasn’t afraid to touch Changbin’s hand on the desk where it rested next to his computer. Changbin turned his hand over to hold Felix’s gently and Chan couldn’t help but to smile at the scene.

“Morning,” he walked past the couple and heard a shocked gasp. The two of them had been so immersed in each other’s company they had completely ignored all of their surroundings.

“Good morning,” he heard them say belatedly and grinned. He turned around on his heel to look at them while slowly continuing to walk backwards.

“I didn’t see anything!” He was already turning back around but didn’t miss Changbin hastily standing up and straightening his suit as if nothing had happened with a light blush on his cheeks that told a different story.

He walked into his office with a smile still on his lips. Turning on his computer he hummed along to a song that he had heard the day before in the restaurant, still thinking about the spark in Minho’s eyes when he glanced at him from the passenger's seat.

On the top of his inbox there was a new email from the main photographer of their team, Jaebum:

_ Hi Chris, I’m sending a couple of pics from yesterday. I think they turned out really well. Thank you so much for bringing in Minho, he was awesome to work with. I hope we can have him for more photoshoots. _

Chan opened the attachments one by one and let himself admire the photos, eyes drifting all over the model’s body as he felt his cheeks heat up. Just thinking about having been able to kiss the man on the screen last night sent butterflies into his stomach that he barely noticed a knock on the door that he had always kept open.

“Come in,” he said absentmindedly and Felix sat down on one of the chairs across the table from Chan. He switched to a different tab, leaning back in his seat to look at Felix who was grinning at him in mischief. “Well don’t you look like you’ve gotten well dicked down.”

Felix feigned offence. “And who’s saying  _ I _ was the one getting dicked down, huh?”

“I see,” Chan hummed, barely holding in laughter. “So there  _ was _ dicking down.”

“Oh shut up Chris,” Felix grinned. “Like you’re not the one practically beaming. What about your loverboy, hm?”

It was Chan’s turn to blush. “He’s not  _ my loverboy,” _ he tried to clarify. He looked back at the computer screen where he knew were photos of said  _ loverboy _ . “And our date went well, thank you very much.”

Felix nearly screamed in excitement. “A date! I knew it!”

Chan only blushed more, aware of the curious eyes on him. He hummed. “I picked him up at the photoshoot and then we went to a restaurant. We even spoke Korean for a big part of the evening, I think that really helped in getting closer. Speaking of getting closer…”

“Did you…?” Felix opened his mouth again, ready to cheer.

Chan scratched the back of his neck. “Uh, we kinda made out on the door to his apartment.”

“Chris! I can’t believe I’m hearing this with my own two ears right now,” Felix stared at him with eyes wide and a smirk on his lips. “ _ The Chris _ from marketing, the one and only. Finally getting some action since the year ‘97.”

“Hey…!” Chan threw a pencil at him that was successfully dodged. “I’m still your boss, remember?” Felix only grinned in response. “What about Changbin?”

Felix looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was eavesdropping on them. “Alright, I’m telling you this  _ only _ because you’re my friend but… you might want to avoid the conference room we were in yesterday evening.”

Chan groaned when he understood what Felix had meant, wiggling his eyebrows at him comically. “I can’t believe I now have to live with this information.”

Felix started to laugh and Chan soon followed, only slightly uncomfortable. “Anyway, so we did talk and he told me that he’s had his eyes on me ever since I was an intern here. Apparently I got him coffee on my first day and messed up his order but he didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to stress me out.” Chan noticed how Felix’s voice got smaller and a blush spread over his cheeks. “And he also told me that he used to drop  _ a lot of hints _ that went straight over my head. So I told him about the dibs I called on him at the christmas party two years ago.”

Chan remembered that party clearly. Changbin had beaten the entire marketing and legal team in arm wrestling and then rolled up his sleeves so he could show off his biceps, letting everyone have a touch – that included a lot of ladies and a slightly tipsy Felix as well. 

“And also about the time I wanted to confess and then cried on the way home because I didn’t. We sort of comforted each other, then one thing led to the other and, well…”

“I don’t think I need to hear the rest,” Chan shielded his face as if it would help and Felix giggled.

Felix looked happy and Chan was glad. He hoped that he would be able to call Minho his boyfriend soon as well. He decided that he would text him later to set up a date.

But before it got better, it had to get worse.

Chan had gone through all of his meetings with overall positive mood and that perhaps clouded his thinking, distracting him from his responsibilities with thoughts of tidal waves and sea foam. So he didn’t exactly pay attention during all of the meetings and signed off on proposals that he didn’t read through, hoping that it would get him through the day quicker.

It wasn’t until he’d gotten back home when his phone buzzed with a new message. It was from Minho but when his eyes glanced over the message he felt like his heart stopped beating. The first one was a link to an article with the headline:

_ [Minho sent an attachment]: “JYP Electronics signs a contract with Brisbane Coatings for a future line of products” _

Chan wasn’t even breathing when he read the following message:

_ [Minho]: You’re just like everyone else, I should have known _

He felt the tidal wave roll over him and fill his lungs with water, filling up and tearing apart the soft tissue, the seawater rolling down his cheeks and over his lips. He hastily typed out a response like a drowning person reaching for a lifesaver:

_ [Chan]: i don’t understand _

It was a lie, he did – he remembered their conversation clearly and he also remembered the meeting where they had discussed the deal with Brisbane Coatings. The company would supply them with paints for new products at an affordable price, allowing them to save up to 20 cents per item in manufacturing costs; it was a game-changing bargain. 

_ [Chan]: let’s talk? _

His phone buzzed again and he read the new message:

_ [Minho]: Sorry, I don’t think I can do this. _

Chan almost broke his phone again when he tossed it in the direction of his bed and it landed on the floor instead.

  
  
  


He was angry – mostly at himself. Minho had shared with him his passion and Chan just stomped on it, walked over it as if it were nothing. He wanted to apologize, to tell him that he just wasn’t paying attention and that it wasn’t meant to be personal, that he had remembered everything Minho had told him and that he wasn’t  _ like everyone else. _

But how was he supposed to prove that when Minho was deliberately ignoring him?

It was Felix who woke him up the next day – it was Saturday and they had planned to go out, to Chan’s misfortune it was also a plan that they had made a week ago when Felix wasn’t dating Changbin yet so now he was practically stuck with the couple for the day. 

That was what ran through his head as he slowly drifted out of sleep, adding onto the weight that he had been feeling on his chest since the evening before. He wondered if that was what being at the bottom of the ocean felt like.

There was a loud knock on his door that tore him out of his sleep completely so he dragged himself out of bed, walking up to the door by memory, his eyes still tired and barely open. 

“Good morning sunshine,” the voice in front of him teased him before he let the guests in. Chan was pretty sure that it was Felix with Changbin right behind him. He couldn’t be too sure but at this point, he was willing to risk a robbery if it meant getting some more sleep.

He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms and sat down on the couch that Felix and Changbin had claimed.

“You look like shit,” Changbin said.

“Thanks,” he cleared his throat. “I feel like shit.”

Felix’s expression changed at that. “What happened?”

Chan groaned internally. He felt stupid. “Minho probably ghosted me.” He explained in the smallest detail possible what happened and Felix immediately tried to comfort him but Chan didn’t want pity, he wanted to fix it.

So he trailed behind Felix and Changbin as they went to various places, not forgetting to stop at the sea world and the restaurant that Chan visited with Minho while having to witness Changbin being affectionate with Felix the entire time, like getting caught in a sea storm with the waves mercilessly throwing him against the sharp, unforgiving rocks, salt pouring straight into the fresh wounds. 

He didn’t bump into Minho at either of those places and realized that his luck had probably run out.

The last thing he’d expected when he got back home was a phone call from an unknown number. At first he didn’t want to pick up, assuming it was a spam call or simply someone he didn’t want to deal with in his current state of mind but as the phone rang the pressure on his chest increased before picking up seemed like the only option he had to alleviate the pain.

“Hello?”

“Hi,” the voice at the other side seemed lively, almost excited to be talking and for a second Chan was convinced that he had just picked up a spam call. “Is this Chan? Chris… Bang?”

“That’s me,” he eventually admitted, unsure of whether he hadn’t heard the voice before.

“Oh, thank god! Hi Chan! I hope you don’t mind that I’m calling your personal number but it’s the weekend anyway so…”

“W-wait,” Chan tried to interrupt the other person. “Who’s calling again?”

“Ah, my bad, I didn't introduce myself. I’m Hyunjin, I work with Minho. We’ve met at the water park once!”

Chan thought about it, an image of a blond, long-haired receptionist with bright orange swim trunks and an attitude to match coming up in his mind. “Hyunjin, I think I remember. Where did you get my number?”

He could almost hear the other smile through the phone. “I see, well I have my ways,” he giggled despite the attempt to sound mysterious. “Alright, I contacted the photographer from that photoshoot he did for your company and the gentleman was kind enough to give me your number.”

“Fine, fine,” Chan wasn’t entirely convinced but decided that he was satisfied with the answer. “So what’s up? Why did you say you were calling?”

“Right,” Hyunjin said as if he had forgotten already. “So, I heard from Minho that you had a disagreement?” Chan hummed. A  _ disagreement _ sounded odd given the situation but he wasn’t about to nitpick. “Listen, I think he’s overreacting. Like, I don’t think it’s a big deal and I tried to tell him but he can be stubborn, you know?” Hyunjin’s tone then changed. “Well, okay, it  _ was _ stupid for your company to sign with Brisbane. Anyone can see that company’s fucked up.”

“Hyunjin…” Chan almost whined and heard the other laugh.

“Sorry, got carried away. Anyway, Minho was pretty hurt when he heard about the contract and assumed that you only wanted to get into his pants. I don’t know you all that well but from what I heard I don’t think you’d just do something to consciously hurt him. I think that…” Hyunjin sighed, trying to look for the right words. “Minho just sometimes doesn’t know how to deal with his emotions so although he cares about you he just decided that it would be easier on him to ghost you.”

Chan felt his throat constrict, rendering him unable to reply. 

“That’s my opinion on it, anyway. But he’s been sulking the entire day and it’s horrible, he didn’t even make fun of me today! I think you should have the chance to at least explain yourself. So uh, if you want to you can stop by at the water park tomorrow, he’ll be there till the evening.”

“O-okay,” Chan wasn’t sure how to react. “I’ll…I’ll…”

“You still there?” Hyunjin asked and Chan realized that he had spaced out.

“Yeah, sorry. I’ll think about it.”

“Alright,” he heard Hyunjin smile. “Well, it’s been nice talking to you. I have to go now or Minho’s going to kill me.” He heard a giggle. “Okay, bye!”

“Bye,” Chan said but the line was already dead.

_ Huh. _

  
  


Before he could overthink it Chan found himself in front of the Sunrise Beach Water Park, giving himself a pep talk before finally stepping out of the car in hopes that no one had seen him arrive full ten minutes earlier. 

He fanned himself with the sleeveless top he chose to wear – really the first thing he saw in his closet that wasn’t a work shirt – as he looked at the building in front of him. It stood intimidatingly in the afternoon heat and Chan wondered if it was mocking him, the concrete arches completely unaffected by the sun and glass panes glaring at him, determined to protect what was underneath by any cost.

Chan noticed Hyunjin immediately as he entered the lobby. He was sitting on the desk behind reception, talking to somebody over a desk phone with an almost sarcastic smile. Chan wondered if he had also inspected his nails and twisted the curly cord between his fingers when he had been talking to him the day before. 

“Hey,” he greeted him, propping his arms up against the front desk. Hyunjin looked at him and gave him a smile, a genuine-looking one, and a nod. He promptly ended the phone call with a ‘sorry, I have a customer’.

“Hi Chan,” Hyunjin greeted him properly and Chan started to regret introducing himself with his Korean name. It felt way too familiar, it was the name that only his family (and Minho) had been using. “I’m glad you’re here. Minho’s been really snappy today. He’s currently doing a class for beginner mermaid swimming, come on, I’ll lead the way.”

Hyunjin led him through the employee entrance to the pool where Chan had to take off his shoes and socks and to roll up his jeans, a familiar routine at this point. 

“He’s there,” he pointed to a smaller swimming pool with about ten people inside. Then Hyunjin stopped and gestured for Chan to go there by himself. He “I sort of… didn’t actually tell him you were coming and he has no idea I enabled this so… I’ll probably distance myself for now. I like to remain alive throughout my shift. Good luck!” And with that he was gone and Chan almost worried about him as he practically ran away with no fear of slipping on the wet tiles.

Chan took a deep breath. He started walking towards the pool and noticed a figure dressed in blue swim trunks striding along the edge of the pool before getting down the ladder into the water. It was Minho and Chan almost didn’t recognize him from the distance, used to seeing him  _ in _ the pool and with his legs covered.

The pool was mostly women although there were a couple of men as well, trying various exercises and swimming positions that would prepare them for mermaid swimming. Minho’s voice reverberated through the humid air as he explained the moves, manoeuvring through the water rather quickly without the costume.

When he was close enough he saw few of the students gaze at Minho when he wasn’t looking with an expression that Chan read easily as he had looked at Minho in the same way. He couldn’t help the pang of possessiveness and had to painfully remind himself that Minho wasn’t  _ his _ in the first place.

It didn’t take long for Minho to notice him – after all, he was dressed in all black in a water park. “Chan,” was how he greeted him, no emotion in his voice as he moved to prop his arms up on the edge of the pool.

Chan crouched on the ground next to him so they could be at least vaguely on the same level, yet it felt like Minho still had the upper hand. “Hi Minho,” he began and watched as he lifted himself out of the pool, water dripping down his naked torso. “I wanted to talk.”

Minho hummed in response and held his gaze as he stood up, Chan following so they were at eye level. “Hyunjin let you in?” When he didn’t get a reply he only nodded, arms folded in front of his chest in defence. “I see.”

“I wanted to apologize. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings–”

“You really think an apology is going to cut it?”

Chan stared at him speechless.

“Listen, if you just came here to pretend like you care and then when I finally crack you go on to spill garbage into the ocean then I literally just do not want to hear it.”

“Minho, that’s not–”

“Yeah, whatever. If you just wanted to hook up you should’ve said so.”

Some of the people in the pool turned their heads around but Chan tried to ignore it. “Minho, just listen to me. I  _ do _ care–”

“If you care then why did you sign a contract with a company that I’m trying to sue?”

Chan felt his blood boil. The conversation was not at all going in the direction he wanted it to go. “Well maybe because that’s how things work at big companies and you would know that if you had a  _ proper  _ job!”

Now it was Minho’s turn to stare speechless and Chan was aware that he had raised his voice but he found himself unable to stop, the storm taking its own course, an earthquake sending a mass of boiling water into the harbour. 

“You get all upset because I didn’t go out of my way to fight with my company but then when the same company pays you to flash your abs on camera you take it without a blink of an eye so hey, maybe I’m cheap but so are you.”

The pool was suddenly dead silent but the only thing Chan could hear was the rush of blood in his ears. 

Minho scoffed and looked away. “Is that really what you think of me?”

Then slowly, like the sunset, he lowered himself back into the pool. Chan didn’t reply.  _ What did I just do? _

He could see Minho glance around them in the corner of his eye; he wasn’t able to face him.

“I think you should leave,” Minho uttered; a final decision. Then he lowered himself into the pool further, water closing around the top of his head as he disappeared under the blue surface.

So Chan left without further comment, missing the moment when Minho came up for air to watch him go.

Hyunjin was standing in front of the employee entrance with arms folded in front of his chest. Chan barely had the courage to face him let alone speak, too embarrassed from what he had said.

“You said some dumb shit didn’t you,” he heard him say as he put on his shoes. 

“Well, maybe we could have a double funeral, right?” Chan attempted a joke and Hyunjin only patted him on the back in sympathy.

  
  
  


“Maybe it’s just the  _ helpless romantic _ in me talking,” Hyunjin threw his hair back dramatically as he led Chan to his car. “But I think you and Minho do have a chance. I’ve never seen him so happy as the day when I drove him back from the JYP party and he told me about your abs and how you tried to stand up for him. So uh, what I wanted to say is, don’t give up yet.”

  
  
  


And Chan tried his best to not give up.

Within the next week, the JYP Electronics building was plastered inside out with promotional photos for their new line of waterproof speakers and Chan couldn’t  _ not _ notice them whenever he arrived to work; the eyes of the man in the picture were following him wherever he went and he felt judged, mocked by his coworkers any time they congratulated him on a successful campaign. It all felt minute, a speck of gold in the sea of misfortune that he couldn’t bring himself to appreciate.

“We hit almost hundred thousand preorders and it’s only the first day,” Felix told him excitedly as they chatted in the break room.

Chan hummed in acknowledgement. He was staring at the vending machine, leaning on his forearm as he scanned the snacks inside. He drummed his fingers on the glass. “Twisties or Cherry Ripe?”

“At this rate, this might be the best quarter we’ve had so far.”

“Or… do I want a soda?”

“By the way, have you seen Mr Park today? He seems pissed.”

“That old man is always pissed,” Chan grumbled as he continued to look at the various colourful rows of snacks. “I told him that we should take back the deal with Brisbane Coatings. He didn’t take it well.”

“You really want to take it back?”

“We shouldn’t support ocean pollution,” he said absentmindedly. He felt Felix’s gaze on the side of his head but refused to face him.

“Aren’t you saying that just because of Minho?”

Chan nearly punched through the keypad when he finally settled on which snack he wanted. The machine buzzed back to life. He pointed at the LED screen above the keypad and started tapping the image that was displayed on it. “Since when does the vending machine have an ad space?”

Felix looked at him with an unreadable expression when Chan finally met his gaze. There was a thud of a snack falling down from the display rows to the pickup box but neither of them leaned down to retrieve it.

“Why is he looking at me like that?” Chan kept poking the little screen, furrowing his brows. Felix couldn’t help but chuckle. Although the screen was barely bigger than a credit card the company decided to use it for advertising which meant yet another picture of Minho that Chan had to avoid.

“Maybe he wants you to stop jabbing his face?”

“Haha,” Chan crouched down to get the snack. “And I’m not  _ just saying _ that. I looked it up and what they’re doing in Brisbane? That’s not right.”

“But can you even take back a contract like that? How can Minho be upset with you when you aren’t even the one who signed it?” Felix took a sip of his coffee as they walked out of the break room.

Chan sighed. It felt unfair that Minho was angry with him in particular but he also couldn’t help the feeling that  _ this was right. _ Fighting for a good cause with an entire company standing behind it. “It was signed on Friday but it doesn’t go into effect until like next week. Mr Park told me that he can see why it would be better to cancel it but I have to convince the board. Which means a lot of research.”

Felix patted him on the back. “I can see that you’re doing a good thing, Chris. If you need help then I’m here.”

Chan was about to dismiss him that he was fine but instead stopped in his tracks and pulled him into a tight hug that he almost spilled his coffee.

  
  
  
  


“Chris,” he heard a distant voice. Everything was dark and strangely quiet and for once Chan felt warm. Why did his neck hurt so much?

“Chris, wake up, come on,” the voice said again. The first thing that he noticed when he opened his eyes was somebody’s dress shoes on the grey carpet of their office.

“Felix?”

The man in front of him shook his shoulder lightly until he opened his eyes completely. “Wake up.”

“ _ How did it go? _ ” he asked in Korean. He was too tired to even be nervous, to feel a rush of adrenaline before Felix finally opened his mouth to speak. The words barely processed in his brain.

“They rescinded.”

“Huh?” Was Chan hearing properly?

“Brisbane Coatings agreed to cancel the contract without penalty.”

Chan looked at Felix who was excited, leaning over him where he had fallen asleep on a bench right outside the conference room. He had given his presentation before the board of directors told him to wait outside until they would discuss it with the second party.

“Come on, you won,” he grinned at him and Chan felt his heart start beating again.

He thought of Minho – would he find out?

A phone buzzed in his pocket so he pulled it out, noticing a new message from Hyunjin.

_ [Hyunjin]: Let me know how the meeting went _

He smiled.

  
  
  


It wasn’t until two weeks later that Chan finally had the chance to see Minho again. He wondered if his luck had restored or if it had been just an intricate scheme by Hyunjin when he arrived at the Adelaide Convention Centre at ten in the morning and Minho was in his direct line of vision, standing with Hyunjin outside of a lecture hall. 

The board of directors had decided to send Chan to attend the annual Adelaide Ocean Preservation Convention and although he was excited to go it unnerved him that he had to go alone – at first, he was supposed to go with someone from the PR department or at least Felix but then the schedule changed and Chan was the only person available. So he bit the bullet, resolving to get through the event by himself and to gather information about what his company could do in order to help ocean preservation.

He made eye contact with Hyunjin across the lobby and knew that there was no going back. He and Minho were dressed in suits, quite an unconventional look for both of them yet it made them appear smart and elegant, not mundane like the dozens of businessmen around them.

The second Hyunjin saw him Chan could almost see him jump in excitement, pointing in his direction so Minho would see him too. Minho met his gaze and smiled, a little bit shy but overall more positive than just a sneer and Chan felt a weight lift off his chest. It seemed like Minho wasn’t upset with him anymore.

But then the lecture hall opened in order for the first panel to start and with that Minho and Hyunjin disappeared in the crowd of other businessmen. 

Chan got through the day relatively well, talking to business partners and experts on marine biology, discussing various topics and even getting praised by the representants of various activist groups for revoking the contract. Yet he felt a certain sense of emptiness like walking on a beach after a storm had passed, waiting for high tide.

He felt a gust of wind brush through his hair and bring the scent of the ocean. The shadows were getting longer with each passing minute as he sat on a bench outside of the convention centre, catching a little bit of fresh air and alone time after socializing for what felt like days. He was looking at the river running just a few meters in front of him and wondered where did the overpowering taste of seawater come from.

“You’re here,” he heard next to him and had to squint his eyes to look up at the figure shielding the sun.

“Minho, hi,” Chan said and saw the other smile. “I didn’t know you would be here.”

“I try to attend every year,” Minho pressed his lips together into a thin line.

“Oh,” Chan nodded. “Cool.”

He felt the awkwardness hanging in the air as he searched for things to say. Minho had his hands in his pockets, looking at the ground as he kicked into a dent in the pavement.

“Where’s Hyunjin?”

“Hyunjin went back to the hotel,” Minho blurted out, gripping onto the opportunity to fill the silence. Not sure what to say next he glanced around, shifting his weight from one leg to the other before looking back at Chan. “He told me to say hi.”

Chan stood up and took a deep breath. He felt sweat on his palms. “I wanted to apologize.”

“Actually, I wanted to apologize too,” Minho said and Chan barely even had the moment to appreciate how well the suit fitted him. He figured that everything looked good on Minho.

He took a breath, biting his lips. “Do you wanna take a walk?”

“Sure.”

They walked in silence for a while until they reached a spot that was a little bit more secluded, still on the riverbank but quieter as the noise from the convention centre didn’t reach there.

“I heard about the contract,” Minho spoke up when they sat down on a patch of grass. “I– I didn’t actually expect you to do that. I almost cried when Hyunjin told me that it got revoked,” he laughed a little bit and Chan realized just how much he had missed that sound.

“Hyunjin actually helped me with materials to convince the board,” Chan added, not sure how to react to the rest. “And the legal team was so shocked that they might take it to the court. They want to sue them for pollution.”

“I know,” Minho breathed out and their eyes met. There was still the same spark that Chan remembered. “He– he told me. It was like he didn’t want me to forget you that easily.”

“And did you?”

A beat of silence. Neither of them looked away. “No. I couldn’t.”

The sun started to set, painting the sky various shades of orange and red, rekindling the air.

“So I guess I wanted to thank you. For standing up against your company. I– I was too harsh on you and–”

“Don’t,” Chan interrupted him. A gust of wind ruffled his hair. “I said stupid things I didn’t mean, I didn’t want to hurt you but I did and I wish I could take the words back. I missed the only chance I had to fix things.”

“You’re here now, aren’t you?” Minho smiled at him. “And no, I think I needed to hear it. I was stuck in my little bubble and I was hypocritical but…” he took a deep breath, the smile now gone as he looked at the grass between his feet before continuing.

“Truth is, I care about you. And I didn’t want to admit it to myself but at the same time I was getting attached, I had no idea what was happening. I told you about the two types of guys and I  _ knew _ that you weren’t either of those types. I was thinking ‘this is too good to be true’ and maybe I thought that so much I started to believe it. So when… when I heard the news I immediately jumped to the conclusion that you really were just  _ like the others _ and…”

Chan watched him tear grass out of the ground as he searched for the right words. Then Minho looked up and their eyes met again.

He chuckled in frustration. “I didn’t know what to do. I thought that maybe if I cut you off then I can save myself the fall.” A beat of silence. “Didn’t realize until it was too late that I already fell for you.”

Chan chuckled at the cheesiness and Minho did too. He couldn’t take his eyes off Minho. He wanted to kiss him senseless.

“So if you don’t mind,” he spoke up as the waves on the river in front of them quivered in anticipation. “I would like to take you up on the date offer.”

Chan nodded, warmth spreading through his cheeks. 

“If it still stands, that is.”

There was no way Chan could ever deny him of something.

  
  


In the end, Chan was more than delighted that he was travelling alone as that meant not having to share a hotel room with anyone else.

Lying on the grass until the sun had set completely they talked about what had happened in their lives during the time that they didn’t talk, Chan told him about Felix and Changbin now dating and Minho told him about a new charity campaign that he was in the process of planning. 

With Minho, not every moment had to be filled with talking as just being in his presence felt good – the butterflies in his stomach never ceased and the world stood still whenever their eyes met, not a speck of doubt in the air whenever Chan dared to put his hand on Minho’s arm. As they sat next to each other, leaning back on their elbows to catch the last rays of sunshine, Chan found his hand slowly getting near Minho’s. He looked down as he gingerly put his fingers over the back of Minho’s hand and watched with bated breath as the other turned his hand around to allow for their palms to connect.

It was an innocent gesture, something much tamer than what their first kiss was like yet Chan found himself grinning in pure joy at the sight and when he looked up at Minho he found the other already staring at him, smiling in a way that made Chan’s heart soar. 

Minho was telling Chan a story about the first time he had ever modelled in the mermaid’s costume when Chan’s emotions finally caught up with him and he kissed Minho on the cheek, catching the other completely off guard. With a pink blush, he stumbled upon his words before falling completely quiet as he looked at Chan.

“Hey, d-don’t interrupt me!” he eventually stammered out with a laugh and Chan only grinned at him in response. “As I was saying,” he tried to continue but then another kiss landed on his cheek, rendering him speechless once again. 

“I’m listening,” Chan teased him but when Minho opened his mouth to speak Chan didn’t hesitate to kiss him again. 

After a few unsuccessful attempts to finish his story, Minho finally sighed in resignation. “You’re so cheesy, you know that?”

Timidly Chan then asked him if he wanted to go back to his hotel room together. Minho agreed but not before he kissed him on the lips, pushing Chan to the ground when he started kissing back. Minho kissed him with the passion that tasted like the sunset, like the fire that Chan felt in his chest and that wouldn’t go out even in the darkest depths of the ocean so he kissed him deeper, eager to have more, to take everything Minho was willing to give.

By the time they got back to the hotel, it was already dark out. Chan let Minho in and sat down on the bed as Minho stood by the window tapping on his phone.

“I texted Hyunjin that I wouldn’t be coming back to our hotel,” he said eventually, placing the phone on a small table by the wall. He looked at Chan to see his reaction. Chan only lifted his brows and chuckled. “That other plans came up.”

“And what do you have in plan?”

Minho approached Chan, standing in front of him where he sat on the bed, leaning back on his hands to look up at him. Minho was watching him closely, a familiar piercing gaze that fixed him in place and made his heart flutter in anticipation.

Then Minho put one of his knees on the mattress right next to Chan and reached his hand out to pick up his tie gently with his fingertips, sliding down from the knot a little bit, caressing the soft material. Chan’s breath hitched in his throat when suddenly he grabbed onto the fabric with his whole fist and pulled on it.

“You,” he uttered. Chan couldn’t deny the spark it sent straight into his crotch, Minho looming over him and tugging on his tie to bring their faces closer, not to mention the fact that he was now in the direct line of vision with Minho’s abdomen.

Minho leaned down to kiss him and it was surprisingly gentle and soft given their position, his lips warm and wet when Chan kissed him back, one hand sliding up Minho’s thigh next to him. Minho pulled away just enough so Chan would feel his breath hot on his lips and their eyes met.

“I really wanna ride you,” Minho murmured.

Chan’s eyes widened and his hand tightened its grip on Minho’s thigh before he nodded, already unable to form coherent sentences. “Yeah,” he nodded again as Minho straddled him, now both thighs on the bed. “Fuck, yeah.”

Minho reacted by pulling on his tie once again and kissing him deeply, where it was previously soft and gentle it was now overflowing with eagerness and lust. Chan let him lick into his mouth as both of his hands slid over his thighs, squeezing them and then moving upwards to roam over his body. He was already feeling the pit of arousal in his stomach grow bigger with each little sound that Minho let out of his mouth, making his pants tighter as he felt up the muscle underneath Minho’s shirt. Minho let go of his tie so Chan could remove his blazer, letting it fall onto the floor before he discarded his own, hands going to palm at Minho’s butt.

The warmth between them increased when Minho sat down on his thighs but Chan wanted more,  _ needed _ more so he pulled him closer. He gasped when he felt the other hard as well, pushing right against him over the layers of clothing. Minho then rolled down his hips and Chan bit into his bottom lip in pleasure which only enticed the other to repeat the motion, moaning into his mouth, hands grabbing onto Chan’s shoulders to stabilize himself. 

“Fuck, you’re so gorgeous,” Chan gasped and Minho kissed him harder, moaning and  _ whining _ as he continued to grind against him and Chan wanted to ruin him, a part of him wondering if he could make him come just like this but also desperately needing to feel him stretched over his cock. He reached his hand to rest on Minho’s cheeks when they pulled away from kissing and let his thumb caress his bottom lip which the other immediately understood and darted his tongue out to let it slide into his mouth, licking and sucking on the single finger and Chan wondered if he was purposely doing it in the most sinful way, putting on a show that made him strain against his pants almost painfully as he imagined,  _ felt _ as if that was his cock inside his mouth instead.

When he pulled his hand away in an attempt to unbutton Minho’s shirt he was pushed onto the bed but his hands didn’t leave the other’s body, fumbling with the buttons from the bottom of the shirt before Minho got fed up with it and forced it over his head, tossing it somewhere afterwards. Chan was pretty sure he heard thread and fabric ripping but the hint of concern was quickly replaced by pure awe at just how  _ hot _ Minho’s body was up close, towering over him with an obvious bulge in his pants. With combined efforts, they moved up on the bed for more space.

“God, I was so stupid,” Minho said before he started to unbutton Chan’s shirt as well and although it made the undressing harder he attached his mouth to his neck, licking a long stripe all the way up to the shell of his ear. “We could’ve been doing this for  _ weeks.” _

Chan moaned as Minho bit onto his earlobe while rolling his hips in a particularly obscene way. “Oh,  _ kitten.” _

Minho immediately stopped to pull away and face Chan.

“Is– Is that alright?”

Chan watched Minho closely to decipher the look in his eyes but then Minho dipped down to nip at the skin of his chest, and  _ oh, is he nuzzling me? _

He felt a faint nod against his stomach. He couldn’t help a smile tug at his lips. “You like that,  _ kitten?” _

A strangled moan came out of Minho’s mouth as he manoeuvred further down Chan’s body, leaving wet, open-mouthed kisses along the way and Chan thought he was going to come on the spot when he noticed Minho grind into the sheets, craving any friction he could get.

“Fuck, the things you do to me,” he said and Minho finally undid his belt, immediately going to lick over the outline of his cock in his underwear before tugging the fabric down and taking him into his hand. Chan gasped at the contact and carded his fingers into Minho’s hair, tugging at it the slightest bit and drawing out yet another moan.

Their eyes met right in the very moment that Minho licked around the tip, teasing the head with his tongue before pushing it past his lips. Minho’s mouth was warm and wet around him and Chan heard himself moaning, obscenities slipping past his lips when Minho started bobbing his head, getting his cock deeper and deeper with each time he moved down.

“So fucking hot–  _ mhm, _ I could come just from your mouth kitten,” he said and Minho replied by humming around his length, the vibrations so delicious that Chan pulled at his hair again, enticing yet another hum from him. It was a lot and Chan felt his mind clouded with pleasure as he quickly neared his tipping point, the sight of Minho making an absolute  _ mess _ of himself with saliva trickling down his chin only making him think of how would he look like with Chan’s come filling his mouth. “ _ Fuck,  _ Minho,  _ fuck,  _ like actually I’mma come if you don’t stop,” he whined and fortunately Minho pulled off.

“D’you have…” Minho wasn’t able to finish the sentence, lips swollen red and glistening.

“Wait a sec,” Chan said, managing to get up and walk to where his travel bag was lying on the floor. He quickly found the lube and condoms and when he came back to the bed Minho had already taken off his pants and underwear, watching him closely. He kneeled in front of him and set the items next to them.

Minho smiled.

“What?” Chan chuckled nervously.

“Looking at you,” Minho said and Chan only tilted his head in question. “You’re handsome.”

Chan felt his face grow hot and heard Minho chuckle. He leaned forward to kiss Minho for the lack of a better reaction and despite the slight shift in the mood he still heard the little gasps and moans Minho let out when he pressed their bodies together.

“Now fuck me already,” Minho muttered against his lips and Chan let out an amused scoff.

“Aren’t you a bossy little thing hm,” he said as he was pushed onto the bed again, this time leaning against the headboard when Minho straddled him. He reached for the lube and poured some onto his fingers while Minho kept on marking his body with his tongue and teeth, especially relishing in the noises Chan let out whenever he found a particularly sensitive spot.

He slowly circled his finger around Minho’s rim and heard a gasp when he pushed inside. He watched as his face scrunched in slight discomfort so he limited his movements to not hurt him before Minho started to move on his own. He took it as an encouragement to continue and soon he had three fingers inside, scissoring them carefully as Minho moaned, pornographic sounds filling the little hotel room.

“So beautiful,” he heard himself mutter when Minho started to ride his fingers, eager to chase the pleasure himself as sweat collected on his temples, already looking completely wrecked. 

“‘Am ready,” Minho murmured into his shoulder. Chan pulled the fingers out and instead grabbed onto Minho’s hips.

He didn’t expect Minho to kiss him, barely a tender touch to his lips and felt his heart flutter. His hands went to caress his face, gently holding him as if he was about to fall apart at any moment, feeling a wave affection wash over him when Minho leaned into the touch.

“So pretty,” he repeated and although Minho didn’t respond he had a feeling that it comforted him.

Minho lifted himself on his knees to align Chan’s cock with his entrance. The world stilled around them as their eyes met, something unspoken in Minho’s eyes that Chan couldn’t decipher, perhaps a silent promise.

Then he started to lower himself down and Chan took a sharp inhale and almost hit his head on the wall behind him when he let out a breathy moan, the warmth of Minho immediately enveloping him, the tight heat making him curse as he gripped his thighs with even more force. Minho was taking him raw, condom left unopened on the bed and the sensation drove Chan crazy. He tried to hold himself back, to not just start thrusting his hips up as his instincts told him so while Minho was still looking at him, bottoming out with a gasp.

“You’re so–  _ fuck _ , so big,” he moaned out as he adjusted to the girth. 

And then Minho started moving and Chan couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe it that he had the man he’d been yearning for finally in his arms, so strong yet so fragile and all he wanted to do was to claim him just for himself, to spend every night with him and to wake up next to him, to kiss him every day and to never let anyone hurt him. He wanted Minho to be happy, to see him light up with that adorable smile that Chan loved to see so much. 

“You’re so good to me,” he whispered as Minho rolled his hips, making both of them moan in unison.

Minho crashed their lips together, or perhaps it was Chan who first leaned in, it didn’t matter. The moans got louder and more desperate, the wet sounds reverberating in a cacophony of nails being dragged over bare skin and emotions slipping from bitten lips. Chan felt sparks in his vision as he canted his hips up into the heat, he could feel Minho slowly losing strength in the thighs that he wanted to mark with love bites the next time he would get a chance and the thought of it alone tightened the arousal in his stomach, the thought that  _ oh, we will definitely do this again _ echoing in his head so he pulled Minho closer and lifted him the smallest bit before letting him drop back onto his cock.

“Chan, you feel so–  _ a-ah _ ,” he whimpered and that only encouraged him, repeating the motion until Minho was practically screaming.

“Mhm,  _ so tight, kitten” _ he breathed out as the familiar heat in his abdomen constricted. Realizing that he was close he flipped them over and Minho gasped as his back hit the mattress. Now with a better angle and Minho’s legs wrapped around his back, he could start pounding into him, setting a merciless pace as he stroked his cock in the same rhythm as he fucked into him.

“‘M-m gonna, gonna come,” Minho barely finished talking when he spilled into Chan’s hand and onto his stomach, tightening around his cock as he moaned and Chan watched how his eyes squeezed shut while his mouth remained open and  _ fuck, _ Chan wanted to take a picture, the sight so breathtaking he almost missed the warmth in his abdomen quickly spreading out.

“Come inside me,” Minho said when his movements stilled the smallest amount. “‘Am clean. If you’re– want you inside.”

“ _ Fuck _ , alright,” Chan couldn’t resist anymore. He almost collapsed on top of him when his orgasm hit him, spilling into the tight heat as Minho clenched around him.

Eventually, he pulled out and Minho hissed at the sensation. His come was already starting to dry up on his stomach but Chan didn’t hesitate to cuddle up next to him. He wasn’t sure how Minho would react but felt the butterflies in his stomach flutter when he felt the body next to him curl up on his side, letting himself be held.

Chan pressed a kiss onto his forehead, mind completely fuzzy and warm.

“That was…” Minho began, his breathing still erratic. “So good.”

“Mhm,” Chan hummed in response. 

Minho propped himself up on one elbow and kissed him, sleepily and gently. “I’m so glad I saved you from drowning back then.”

Chan started laughing and Minho grinned at him, reminding him of the moment he had regained consciousness to find Minho staring at him from above and his heart had been beating so rapidly that he just  _ knew _ he was whipped.

“Seriously, though,” Minho glanced down at his lips before looking up into his eyes. “I’m– emotions are hard for me but I want you to know, I– I like you. A lot. And I’m really glad you didn’t give up on me.”

Chan put his hand on Minho’s cheek, swiping his thumb over his jaw and bottom lip. “I like you a lot too…  _ kitten _ .”

“Shut up,” Minho whined, flopping back onto the mattress with a blush and Chan beamed at him.

Chan’s hand found Minho’s on the mattress between them so he curled his fingers around it, bringing it up to his lips to place a soft kiss on his knuckles.

He decided that he wouldn’t mind drowning again if it meant getting saved my Minho.

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo! What do you think? Did you like it? Personally I had a lot of fun with Hyunjin's character and I'm also tempted to write changlix next time.
> 
> Let me know in the comments!  
> And a reminder to not litter and pollute our environment or mermaid!Minho will be very upset with you lmao.
> 
> If you wanna chat, you can talk to me on [instagram](https://www.instagram.com/woosanthighs/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/wooyngthighs) !
> 
> [Wattpad account](https://www.wattpad.com/user/wooyoungthighs) (this is my only Wattpad account; if you find my work elsewhere, please report it)


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